Santa Monica's True Food Kitchen - Not a Judgement Free Zone

So I'm on vacation with my favorite wife out in Santa Monica, CA and we hit the local food joints about as soon as I got off the plane and got to the hotel. She's been out here for a few days already for a business conference, so a friend recommended True Food Kitchen a few blocks from our hotel. Its a neat place that has a lot of natural food, veggie, vegan, and gluten-free offerings. For this east coaster, it was a bit of a culture shock, but we dove right in.

We dined with some friends, so between us we had Florida, Texas and of course Northern Virginia represented. Our first clue that something may have been a little different about this place was when one of our party ordered a diet coke. Our server explained "Oh we don't have those here, all of our stuff is locally sourced and made fresh - so I recommend one of our Natural Refreshments drinks."

I of course decided to grab a beer instead.  I selected the White Rascal Wit from Avery Brewing Co. Never had it before but really tasty. I liked the lemon in the taste, as well as something like honey maybe? Great witbier, it was super refreshing with the great weather out here. Later on I tried the Apple Carrot Ginger Tonic, which (as one would probably guess) has apple, carrot, and ginger flavors. Of course the ginger was really front and center, so if you're not a fan of a ginger kick in the face, maybe its not for you. Thankfully, I happen to be a fan of ginger everything, so I really liked it. Again, really refreshing with the weather out here.



So, since we weren't in much of a rush, so we started with some hummus as an appetizer. Their Herb Hummus, has a bit of a kick to it, I taste what I think is chili powder on top of cilantro. It ended up being really tasty. It comes with little tomatoes, some very thinly sliced onions, sliced olives, and feta cheese. Not bad at all as far as hummus goes. The pita bread was really tasty, and given the rest of their menus I bet they make it in-house too, if not - well it certainly doesn't taste like its store bought.



Next up we ordered our entrees, and that's where more the restaurant's "mission" came to be featured. I kept it simple and ordered the Teriyaki Brown Rice Bowl with Chicken. It was exactly like it sounded it should be. Chicken with vegetables over brown rice with teriyaki sauce on it. They put avocado on it, inexplicably as I don't really think it goes with these flavors plus I don't like avocado anyway but apparently its all the rage now. So I left the avocado off, thankfully it was just kinda placed on the top and not mixed in or anything. Other than that it was exactly what I expected and exactly what I wanted. Filling and tasty.

My wife and one of her friends both had the Grass Fed Bison Burger, which was what the person who recommended the restaurant to us suggested we order. She doesn't really like onions so she asked that they be left off. Our server replied "are you allergic or do you just not like them? Because they're caramelized and not raw, so I recommend you leave them on." My wife explained that she didn't like them either way and  she would just prefer them off. After another round of "Are you sure?" back and forth, she moved to our friend. When he order the same burger with no mayo, same exchange happened. Not sure if this is a west coast thing, a particular thing with this restaurant, or maybe just this individual server...but strange nonetheless. Either way, they really seem to have a dedication to preserving the sanctity of their carefully crafted dishes. Where I'm from people alter burger orders all the time. I was kind of reminded of a webcomic I read called Books of Adam wherein he chronicles his lifetime of adventures in Portland, OR. The particular one I'm thinking of is where he switches coffee shops in a hurry and gets super-snark from the barista (read it here! Hilarity ensues!).

So after waiting and chatting, our food comes out. Everybody's food arrives to their satisfaction, alterations and all. We start eating and talking again, and as is customary, the server returns to confirm everything is as it should be. My wife's friend said to her "weren't you going to ask for ketchup?" and the server shoots him a dirty look and exclaims "don't encourage her!" We're all a little confused at this point. The server asks her if she liked the umami sauce on the burger and with a tentative "sure...but I'd still like some ketchup" the server   is off. She returns in a few minutes, and says "So I brought you more umami sauce, I don't think they put enough on the burgers so I think you'd like it better with more on it." She also has managed to procure some ketchup but doesn't mention it and just sets it down next to the additional umami. Super weird.

Other than the odd service, the food was really good. The bison burgers got resounding reviews from my wife and her friend. My dish was good. The place just maybe was too much of a culture shock for me. I'd still recommend it if for nothing else than the food. But have your shields up.

http://www.truefoodkitchen.com/restaurants/true-food-kitchen/